Contagious Curiosity : Technical Conference

SoCalDevGal answers your Windows 7 Developer Questions

llangit — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 06:18:02 GMT

Wow what a launch today in Orange, CA! Thanks to the standing-room only audience this morning. Because of the crowd size, you were so kind as to send your questions via text messages. I didn’t have time to answer all of your many questions all at the event, so here are the rest of the answers. I’ll categorize the questions for easier reading too.

General Developer readiness and internals

Q: How do I get the Windows API Code pack?
A: The new MSDN Channel9 Windows 7 online training center has links to everything you’ll need. It includes links to SKDs, code packs, as well as all of the sample code from the demos I showed in today’s presentation – enjoy!

Q: Do developers have to distribute the API code pack .dlls with their applications that use them?
A: Yes, you do, but you can select the individual .dlls that apply so as to keep your application size as small as possible.

Q: What is the best way to take advantage of 64-bit applications? If I write an application for 64-bit, will it still work on 32-bit?
A: For a deeper understanding of Windows internals in general, and 64 vs 32 bit in particular, there is no better source than Mark Russinovich – his blog is here. He also has done several interviews on MSDN Channel 9 and has recently published a book on Windows Internals.

Q: If I write an application that uses a feature that is only available in a particular edition of Windows 7 (such as Bit Locker), what happens if someone tries to run my application on an edition of Windows 7 that does not contain that feature?
A: You should use version checking and ‘fail gracefully’ in your code (i.e. ‘the edition of Windows 7 that you are using does not support feature x). For more information see the hands on lab on version checking.

Q: How has UAC changed?
A: See this hands on lab, also the MSDN guidance

Q: How is PowerShell integrated into Windows 7:
A: PowerShell 2.0 is included – more info here (showing cmdlets)

Q: Does booting from VHD work in Windows 7?
A: It sure does – here’s a lovely blog post about this topic

Q: Can you demo homegroup setup?
A: Sorry no time, but here’s a video.

Q: Does Windows 7 support languages other than English?
A: Definitely – here’s a MSDN Channel9 video to get you started.

Sensor API

Q: Does the Location API support geo-coding? complete address reporting (also called civic address)?
A: If the location device provides that information and yes it does – more in this presentation.

Q: Are there any simulated accelerometers in the Windows 7 SDK or dev kits?
A: Not that I know of, however here’s a great blog entry on how to test/use the Freescale board (that I showed and gave away as swag) accelerometer with a sample XNA racing game.

Multi touch API (and Graphics Enhancements)

Q: How much of the multi touch API is in the current beta of .NET 4.0 (beta 2)?
A: It is not complete yet. Use the Managed Wrappers until .NET 4.0 is RTM’ed, or use native code.

Q: Can you use multi touch to geo tag items?
A: Yes the location gadget can be coded to work with touch (the sample uses a mouse click on a Bing Map to set your location).

Q: Can you use multi touch on multiple monitors?
A: Yes, as long as all monitors support touch

Q: If I code for an Infrared multi touch screen, does that mean that I’ll have to write different code for a Capacitive multi touch screen?
A: No, you will not. The same code will work for both types. However each type of screen may have a different maximum number of points of touch.

Q: Is there a built-in option in Windows 7 to automatically make the screen (or icons) bigger for touch?
A: No, but that has been coded into some Windows 7 applications. You’ll also see that design in jumplist menu items (i.e. more space between them). For more on the API, see these hands on labs.

Q: Do multi touch applications have the ability to respond to the amount of touch pressure? i.e. a ‘pressed harder’ event
A: Not at this time

Q: Can you define a custom gestures?
A: Yes you can by coding a custom response to a particular WM_TOUCH message, see the HOL referenced earlier for an example.

Q: Can we see Mike and Kim’s X-Ray multi touch application?
A: There is a video on MSDN Channel 9 about this application – enjoy!

Q: Is touch capability moving us toward virtual keyboards?
A: That is possible, also still complex. Microsoft Research has been doing some work in this area.

Q: What type of touch support is built-in to Windows 7?
A: Support for mouse clicks being replaced by simple gestures – like the Word 2010 (beta) scrolling with simple inertia that I demonstrated. More complex gestures, such as those with complex inertia, must be manually coded.

Q: Will a Windows 7 multi touch application be deployable on a MS Surface device?
A: Not presently, however we are working toward parity with MS Surface capabilities, particularly controls, for more info see this MSDN Channel 9 video.

Q: What is the maximum number of points of contact that a Windows 7 application can support?
A: That depends on the capabilities of the hardware. For example, on the HP TouchSmart tx2, 5 points of touch are supported after the N-trig monitor drivers are installed.

Q: Which applications that ship with Windows 7 are multi touch capable?
A: IE8 has the ‘bump’ feature; MS Paint is multi touch enabled

Q: Does Silverlight support multi touch? Do you code it the same way?
A: It will and coding is different at this time – here’s a Codeplex sample for Silverlight 3.0

Q: Is the Surface API / SDK separate from the Windows 7 multi touch API?
A: Yes it is separate at this time.

Q: Does Window 7 support handwriting recognition?
A: Yes, we have had this since earlier versions of the OS. It performs better after end-user training as well.

Q: Which version(s) of DirectX are compatible with Windows 7?
A: DirectX9, 10 and 11

Taskbar & Library API (also UX and Search)

Q: Can you set up a default save location in a library, like in a folder?
A: Yes, and that is a recommended programming practice for Window 7. You can see this ‘hands on lab’ for more information.

Q: Can you backup a library?
A: Yes, you can and you can automate those backups as well.

Q: When you copy a file into a library, where are you actually copying the file to?
A: The physical folder that the library is referencing.

Q: Can I pin an item to the start menu? (Run…)
A: Yes, right click the item and then click ‘pin to start menu’

Q: Why is your taskbar at the top of your screen?
A: Because I have chosen to put it there. I think it makes me more productive, it is an optional placement.

Q: Are programmable taskbar enhancements, i.e. icon overlays, etc…available only in Windows 7?
A: That is correct

Q: What gadgets do you recommend for Windows 7?
A: These are fun.

Q: Can we incorporate BING into Windows 7 search? how?
A: Yes, you can, via federated search. Using the OpenSearch standard, you can incorporate BING as well as other data sources, here’s some guidance.

Q: Does Windows 7 include voice activation? (i.e. a Speech API)
A: Yes, we’ve had one since Vista – here’s a link on how to build a WPF application that is speech-enabled.

Q: Is the scenic ribbon user configurable?
A: Not by default, but you can add that functionality to it with code. To get started coding a scenic ribbon, see these hands on labs.

Q: Where can I find a list of keyboard shortcuts for Windows 7:
A: Here’s a pretty good link.

About XP Mode

Q: When will XP emulation be fully available?
A: XP Mode is part of the the professional and ultimate editions of Windows 7. Read this blog to understand more about different types of virtualization offerings.

Other questions (ahem…I did not make these up, actual texts!)

Q: Where can I find information on the new Microsoft Store opening this week in Orange County? (Mission Viejo, CA this Thursday)
A: Here’s a link – get there early this Thursday for fun and prizes!

Q: Have they fixed the bug that makes developers burst into flames at the touch of sunlight?
A: I hope so, or there wouldn’t be any developers in SoCal!

Q: How are you?
A: Fine, but a bit busy at the moment. (asked during presentation via text).

Q: I was at U2 concert last and know how you feel (directed at Mike)
A: Exactly.

Q: I am 14 years old and my mom had to wake up at 4:30 am to drive me here, can I have some swag?
A: Sorry, no, but thanks to your mom.

Q: I noticed your frequent websites link included ‘Aries and Leo love compatibility’ – would you consider a Sagittarius?
A: Well, that is supposed to be a pretty good match for a Leo

Q: Will you marry me? (assuming this was directed at me and not at Mike Roth :)
A: Not at this venue – maybe a Las Vegas event in the future.

Q: Are you single? (same assumption as above)
A: Yes, are you?

SoCalDevGal shares Windows 7 Launch LIVE

llangit — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 16:19:05 GMT

Well, it’s not me presenting, but it is the same content. If you couldn’t make it to the Windows 7 launch event next Monday, October 26th starting at 9am, you can watch the live stream of the presentation of my developer evangelist colleague Daniel Egan and more presenting on Monday.

Here’s the link for the live stream http://thenewefficiency.com/live

For those of you who DID register for my event on the same day (in Orange), I am looking forward to seeing you and will have some special surprises for select attendees.

SoCalDevGal presents Windows 7 Developer APIs

llangit — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 18:02:20 GMT

Next week Monday and Wednesday, I’ll be presenting at the MSDN launch events for developers for Windows 7. Both events are registered full already – however, I am posting my decks here for you. Also we may be recording one set of launch sessions, if we do so, I’ll post the link to the recording on my blog.

Session 1 – Windows 7 Taskbar and Library APIs

Windows 7 Developer APIs -Task Bar Libraries

View more presentations from lynnlangit.

Session 2 – Windows 7 Graphics Enhancements and Sensor APIs

Windows 7 Developer APIs - Graphics Sensors

View more presentations from lynnlangit.

Sessions 3 – Windows 7 Scenic Ribbon and Multi Touch APIs

Windows 7 Developer APIs - Multi Touch and Scenic Ribbon

View more presentations from lynnlangit.

Happy coding!

Also, if you haven’t done so already, please join my facebook group ‘Windows 7 Developers’ for more information.

SoCalDevGal answers ‘What is Windows Azure?’ in 5 minutes

llangit — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 20:03:57 GMT

Slides from #CloudCampSVCC – 5 minute time limit for my lightning talk. It was also filmed, I’ll add the link after it’s published.

What is Windows Azure?

View more presentations from SoCalDevGal.

What is Gemini? Deck from #SVCC

llangit — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 22:56:46 GMT

I presented at #SVCC introducing Gemini – here’s the deck.

Gemini Introduction

View more presentations from SoCalDevGal.

Where is SoCalDevGal? – SoCal Developer Events for Oct 2009

llangit — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 08:22:21 GMT

By popular demand I am attempting to aggregate SoCal Developer events on a monthly basis. For October 2009 as follows below.
I’ll be happy to add any developer events I may have missed, just send me mail via my blog.

Week 1 (Sept 27 – Oct 3)

Mon, Sept 28 – GirlsInTech / Santa Monica / 7pm - ‘How much can you say without tarnishing your brand? (social media) – I am speaking
Wed, Sept 30 – CloudCamp / LA / MS Office / 6pm – I am attending, maybe speaking
Sat, Oct 3 – Silverlight Education Day / San Diego / 9am
*note – I’ll be at SVC Code Camp and then San Jose MSDN Windows 7 launch from Fri, Oct 2 to Mon, Oct 5*
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Week 2 (Oct 4 – Oct 10)

Tues, Oct 6 – DealMaker / LA / MS Office / 1-5pm – I am attending
Wed, Oct 7 – MSDN geekSpeak on WF / 12-1pm – I am moderating
Fri, Oct 9 – BecauseItsMyBirthday / EccoHollywood / 7pm until late – I am one of the LA City Hosts

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Week 3 (Oct 11 – Oct 17)

Thurs, Oct 15 – MindshareLA / 8pm until late – I may be attending

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Week 4 (Oct 18 – Oct 24)

Tues, Oct 20 – SQL UG / San Diego / 6:30pm to 9:00 pm – I am speaking on Gemini
Wed, Oct 21- MSDN geekSpeak on Refactoring / 12-1pm – I am moderating
Thurs, Oct 22-25 – Social Media for Small Biz Con / Aliso Viejo – 3 days – I may stop by

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Week 5 (Oct 25 – Oct 31)

Mon, Oct 26 – MSDN Windows 7 Launch Event / Irvine – I am speaking on Windows 7 for Developers (sorry, sold out)
Tues, Oct 27 – 140 conference / LA – I may be speaking (afternoon) on use of Twitter to drive nonProfit support activities
Wed, Oct 28 - MSDN Windows 7 Launch Event / LA– I am speaking on Windows 7 for Developers (sorry, sold out)
Thurs, Oct 29 – New Media Vault / LA – 7pm until late – I will probably be attending

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SoCalDevGal interview Bart de Smet and Mwansa Lumpa at TechEd Africa 2009

llangit — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 06:36:56 GMT

Enjoy - (can you tell I was a bit jet lagged?)

first Bart on his work with .NET 4.0 Framework

then Mwansa on his work developing SmartCare in Zambia

Report from TechEd – WomenBuild 2.0 SeriousPlay with LEGOs

llangit — Tue, 19 May 2009 22:12:44 GMT

Happy to have led the Women in Technology event at TechEd last week. Asli Bilgin and I have been working with a team at Microsoft to build this event brand for a year now. Microsoft has hosted WomenBuild events across the US and Australia already and intends to host more in the future. (Take a look at the original video of the day Asli and I met and the day we got this idea – just for fun.)

The idea is to hold events which implement a type of speed group problem solving facilitated by table leaders and LEGO bricks. We’ve worked directly with the originator of the SeriousPlay concept, Robert Rasmussen to customize the implementation for WomenBuild. We were quite lucky to have Robert over from Denmark to act as lead facilitator for this event at TechEd.

At each event small groups of women and men who are interested in working on this problem (too few women working in technology) build models with LEGO bricks to answer directed questions around this issue. We have a Facebook group to share knowledge and to connect people who are interested in WomenBuild. At TechEd we had over 100 participants in WomenBuild 2.0. To get a sense of the event, take a look at the video below (thanks, again, to our friends at TechZulu for this one!):

So, what were the key learnings from WomenBuild 2.0? I’ve compiled the feedback (after building a model to represent their ideas around a specific question related to WiT), each participant then shares ‘their story’, and then writes down their key thoughts. Here’s what some of the participants had to say about these questions:

1) Why are you here? i.e. motivations for wanting to make change

Together we can improve the situation

To meet other technical women

Increase the visibility of women in technology (many people said this)

Want to get new ideas on how to solve this problem

My co-worker (a female) asked to attend

My graduating class in IT had too few women in it

2) What is essence of the problem?

Work/Life Balance – too much to do, especially if raising kids (many responses)

Different expectations “there is a mental wall – false expectations”, IT not seen as feminine, technology implemented via a ‘male vision’ (good old boys club), women feel alone or apart from the group of men at work in IT, women must work at least 2x as hard to prove their technical competence as men

Women don’t expect to have careers in IT, area not seen as attractive to women, it is not expected that women will do these jobs,

Women are not encouraged to be creative or to ‘take risks’, limits their ability to be effective at work

Women are isolated, feel alone, ‘only women in the room’

3) What actions could be taken to address this problem?

Educate girls about IT career possibilities – participate in DigiGirlz, level the playing field at an early age (many, many responses!)

Be more visible as women in IT, i.e. attend more IT events, public speaking, educate, act as role models, mentors

Act as a mentor to a girl (many mentioned younger family members or neighbors)

Train (enlighten) teachers and parents about gender bias in STEM education

Consciously attempt to ‘hear from’ everyone in the room, both men and women (at work)

Reward risk taking women at work, break or change the rules

Listen to my wife more closely (multiple responses!)

Accept part-time work from busy women, especially mothers

Ask my husband/boyfriend, etc…to take on more family responsibilities

Take time for me to learn, get certified, attend user groups, attend conferences, seek out a mentor

Engage girls in Green Development and Green IT

Bring Robotics to girls

What’s next for WomenBuild?

We are evaluating the first year and planning for year two roll out. We are attempting to sharpen the focus of the event to result in more actionable information. Were you there? Have you attended WomenBuild somewhere in the US? We’d love your feedback! (via this blog or our facebook group). We are also considering what we call *Build programs, i.e. GirlzBuild (for DigiGirlz), etc… We would also be interested in your thoughts on that.

Also, I must thank the 10 table facilitators who made WomenBuild 2.0 possible – Cidgem Patlak, Kim Schmidt, Cindy Palmer, Elisabeth Vanderveldt, Julie Lehrman, Jenny Nielsen, Karen Henderson, Dana (from Hynesite), Julie Yack, and Catherine Eibner.

Report from TechEd – Jam on IT Community Party

llangit — Tue, 19 May 2009 05:19:27 GMT

Thursday was community party night at TechEd. In addition to the attendee party, we in SoCal were able to invite around 300 people from the local tech community (who weren’t registered to attend TechEd). It was really cool to see who turned out for our free food and drink, and then hung around for the social events, the Birds of a Feather informal tech sessions hosted by INETA, the women in tech event (more on that in the next blog post) and/or the speaker idol competition. Here were the activities:

The mix was really great. In particular, in addition to SoCal MVPs and MS community members, our local evangelism team reached out to invite SoCal tech luminaries from social media and those who use competitive products (i.e. Adobe, Google, etc…)

In general, I heard lots of good comments. Probably the best way is to look at highlights from the TweetStream – complete stream here.

Report from TechEd – Windows Mobile Applications Update

llangit — Tue, 19 May 2009 03:39:35 GMT

People ask me ‘how do you keep up?’ Well, sometimes I don’t. I am horribly ‘behind’ in the world of Windows Mobile applications, development, etc…So I decided to spend a bit of time at TechEd trying to remedy that situation. First I attended the (in)famous Windows Mobile Smackdown session. If you’ve never seen one of these, catch the video or, better yet, attend live. The mobile team is well-known for their crazy all-demo and only-demo style. For this smackdown, they just showed one cool application after another.

Because I am so lame and only use the default applications on my (new) HTC mobile TouchPro phone, I felt like a complete loser after this session!

Tomorrow is ‘fix up my phone day’ BTW. Here are some apps I’ll be installing and links. Facebook – link here. Screens below. Also cool was a GestureTek soccer game – link. And Kinoma Play for rich media on the phone – link. Really I am just getting started though. I’ll blog more as I work on installing apps on my phone.

Also they announced the Windows Marketplace for Mobile store – check it out here.

Because I was having so much fun with the team, I crashed their party (at the Conga Room) that night as well.

It was really fun and informative. I met several local Windows Mobile MVPs and have invited them to create a mini-smackdown event at upcoming local BarCamps (next one is in San Diego on May 30 and 31 at the Intuit Building there). If you are like me, you’ll be amazed at the cool apps that are out there for your phone.

If you are still a bit behind on developing for this platform, check out this video from a TechEd session – linked here.

Report from TechEd – ITPros know how to throw a great party!

llangit — Tue, 19 May 2009 00:17:24 GMT

Well it wouldn’t be TechEd, if there weren’t one or more fun parties to attend, but I have to hand it to our corporate ITPro team this year. Their Windows 7 SpringBoard party at the StandardLA was really great.

The atmosphere was great – Stephen Rose (Sr. Community Manager Windows Client ITPro) was a great host. He’s also been literally traveling the entire planet talking non-stop about Windows 7. If you know an ITPro – send them his way.

Joey Snow from TechNet Edge was doing DJ duty at the party. Joey is another ‘rock-star’ speaker. In fact he and Stephen are often traveling together these days, speaking everywhere from the MCT summit in Prague, to TechEd and more. What makes both of these guys so effective is not so long ago they were working ITPros (both joined MS only in the last couple of years), so they really know what it’s like in the real world. Also they’ve both been MCTs for years, so they are effective communicators.

Of course you probably already heard the big announcements (Win7 ‘on track’ for holiday delivery, WinSvr2008 R2 RC available at the show), so what else is on the mind of ITPros at TechEd? Although it’s not really my world, there was much talk around the team’s Springboard website – even mentioned in the TechEd keynote as being a top site for customers.

*special thanks to my friend and top photographer Wm. Marc Salsberry for yet again, taking incredible pictures.

Report from TechEd – What’s new with SQL Server BI?

llangit — Mon, 18 May 2009 23:45:23 GMT

During the day, whenever I could I hung out in the SQL Server Business Intelligence world (another main site – here) – sessions, floor booth, also I did a book signing for my BI book. I was also fortunate enough to have a long lunch with Gemini PM Donald Farmer. So, what did I see?

1. GEMINI! What the heck is this? “Self-service BI” (delivered from within Excel) is the shortest description. This really doesn’t do it justice though. From Mosha’s blog:

In the couple of hours since the announcement here at MS BI conference, I talked with few people already and saw few threads and comments in the Web, and (as expected), there is plenty of confusion about what “Project Gemini” is and isn’t etc. Here are the facts:

A. Project Gemini is the Analysis Services

B. It is next version of Analysis Services, which will ship before SQL11, as part of SQL Server “Kilimanjaro”

C. It uses column oriented processing and in memory storage as core technological principals

Out of all coverage on the Web, that I saw so far – the best explanation comes from Doug Henschen article “Microsoft Will Bow In-Memory Analysis, Appliance-Ready Database in 2010” in Intelligence Enterprise. Here is the key quote from this article: “It's essentially another storage mode for Microsoft SQL Server Analysis Services with access via MDX, so existing applications will be able to take advantage of the performance enhancements”

Just to repeat it in other words: Existing applications that work today with Analysis Services through XMLA and MDX will be able to work with Gemini, because Gemini is Analysis Services. In fact, in “SQL 2008 and beyond” session today, Thierry demonstrated how Report Builder worked with Gemini seamlessly. And because column oriented (and in-memory) are used as a foundation of storage engine, the performance and scalability by data volumes is much better.

Take a look at Donald’s demo – at TechEd during the ‘BI Power Hour’ he did the demo on a NETBOOK – just to show off!

2. Master Data Services – so what is this? Essentially it’s a system for enterprise data management (universal types if you will) – more from the announcement “Master Data Services provides customers with master data management (MDM) capabilities that help manage the data organizations rely on to create a "single version of the truth”– for more detail take a look here. We announced at TechEd that Master Data Services for SQL Server will ship as part SQL Server 2008 R2. The first CTP will be available in H2 of 2009.

3. BI in action – I just love it when we use our own stuff. Check out this short video about the use of a mobile BI application at TechEd that the BI team used to monitor session and speaker scores at the show. The takeaway is that BI doesn’t have to be HUGE or ENTERPRISE, rather it has to be relevant and appropriately sized.

Report from TechEd – What is Oslo? What is M? What is Intellipad?

llangit — Mon, 18 May 2009 20:38:19 GMT

All week at TechEd I worked in the Oslo booth in the SOA area. I worked with Kris Horrocks, Miguel Llopis and Shy Cohen. Kris and Miguel are on the Oslo product team and Shy is an architect and trainer, who recently left Microsoft after over 10 years in Redmond. Working with Softies from the Product Team is always a treat because I get to ‘go deep’ into a technology. This is definitely something I miss about my job as a broad reach developer evangelist. I spent a good amount of time listening, and doing my usual translating, trying to help the customers to understand our vision of Oslo. So the questions came is two groups.

1) I am a developer and this is a developer thing that I have never heard of - so what is it exactly?

2) I am an architect (usually a large enterprise architect) and I use product X right now, how does Oslo compare?

To answer the first one, we started with basic concepts. Oslo is a platform for creating model-driven application and it contains a language, M; tools, IntelliPad and Quadrant; and a (SQL Server) database, Repository. The MSDN Oslo developer center is a great place to start learning – it’s here.

Oslo allows developers to use, extend or to create DSLs (domain-specific languages). DSLs are used to create models which conform to schema or grammar types. All artifacts, i.e. models, schemas, etc…are stored in the Repository. We intend to provide several core DSLs as part of Oslo when it ships as a product. These include MWeb for ASP.NET, MService for WCF / WF, MEntity for the Entity Framework, and MSchema for SQL. You can use these DSLs ‘as is’ to improve developer productivity, i.e. write in a more natural way (for developers) and get output in various formats, or you can extend the DSLs we provide, or even write your own. A fun example that we showed was a ‘MWindow’ DSL that ‘translated’ input in the form of a poem, i.e. ‘Give me a Window, With a Title of New, Color the Outside, And the Inside too, Make them both, blue, light, blue’, which was then translated into XAML, which was next associated with the runtime to output a WPF application.

Of course the key to using any new toolset is understanding the language. For a quick look at M, see the video referenced below.

We also showed some other DSL examples, (such as one for the X10 home automation domain) via IntelliPad. The example shown below is from the IntelliPad team blog and it shows MSchema, or SQL generation.

Quadrant, which was previewed at PDC last fall, is NOT part of the current Oslo CTP (Jan 2009). This CTP includes all the samples we showed at TechEd as well as IntelliPad. Principal Architect of Oslo, Don Box, also presented a session at TechEd on Oslo, which should be available online (eventually) after the show.

As I told many customers as the show, we are ‘early’ in the development of our modeling platform, so if this is an area of interest for you, please grab the CTP, check it out and send me your feedback. Our product team really wants to hear from you.

Post TechEd SoCal Tech Events

llangit — Sat, 16 May 2009 19:01:02 GMT

There are worse problems to have, but a person really needs stamina to keep up with all of the possible tech events in SoCal. I had fun at TechEd, working in the Oslo booth with the team (finally met Don Box in person!), leading the WiT event, attending sessions (mostly BI or Windows Mobile), and, of course, being social.

If you didn’t make it to TechEd US last week, check out TechEd Online. I think one of the most interesting parts is the blog aggregator page – here. Also our friends at TechZulu did a series of interviews with top TechEd developer speakers at TechEd. I’ll post links to those videos soon. TechZulu was also kind enough to cover the WiT WomenBuild SeriousPlay with LEGOs at TechEd. That video will be linked here as well. Check out the facebook group for more info about this global program.

Now that we are ‘post-TechEd’, what events are on my radar this week?

MON – DigitalDrinksLA at the Viceroy. Facebook link here.

TUES – geekDinner at uWink in Hollywood. Upcoming link here.

WED – MSDN event ‘Best of Mix’ at MS LA. Registration link here. Event is also running at MS Irvine next week (Thurs, May 28) – reg link here. I plan to definitely be at the Irvine instance, probably will bring some of my books to raffle and sign as well.

WED – DigitalGames go Social Panel discussion at uWink in Hollywood – reg link is here.

THURS – Black Card Circle in Pasadena. I think this is an invite only event – it’s tech and charity, so, of course, I will go. :) Here’s the facebook link.

Lest you think that all I do is attend events, I’ll mention that I am beginning work on a couple of projects as well.

1) DigiGirlz summer courses and events.

2) SQL Data Services webcasts for the Azure team

3) Abstracts and Sessions for TechEd South Africa in Durban Aug 2 – 5.

Going to TechEd in LA next week? – find SoCalDevGal there

llangit — Wed, 06 May 2009 04:53:00 GMT

TechEd starts for me on Sunday, May 10. Here’s where to find me day-by-day – if you can’t find me send me mail via this blog with your number and I’ll text you back.

Sunday
day - MVP event at LACC -and- OSLO booth prep
night – SharePoint by Night Party -and- MCT ‘foodie’ meet up

Monday
morning – at the show
afternoon – Oslo booth
evening – Win7 party

Tuesday
morning – Oslo booth
afternoon – MCT lounge, then book signing at TechEd bookstore (4pm – 5pm)
evening – West Region team dinner

Wednesday
morning – at the show
afternoon – Oslo booth
evening – secret party

Thursday
morning – Oslo booth
afternoon – WomenBuild prep (facilitator training starts at 4pm)
evening – Community Party 5pm, WomenBuild 6:30pm

Friday
morning – Oslo booth